


something about those sleepless nights

by punkjuggie



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Post-Season/Series 12, Sharing a Bed, mentions of macdennis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 09:41:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11506761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkjuggie/pseuds/punkjuggie
Summary: When Frank kicks Charlie out of bed and locks him out, he seeks refuge at Dee's.ORJust another bed sharing fic.





	something about those sleepless nights

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after the season 12 finale. Warning for transphobic slur (they mention Carmen).

The sound of fists coming down on her front door in the middle of the night shouldn’t come as a surprise anymore. Still, Dee finds herself cursing out loud as she throws her covers off when she is woken up by an incessant pounding on her door, a little past 3:00 A.M. 

 

“Somebody better be dead,” she mutters under her breath as the sound of the knocks echoes in her head and then, louder, “yeah, I’m coming!” 

 

She’s not really surprised to find Charlie on the other side of the door. With Dennis somewhere in North Dakota and Mac moping alone in his new-old apartment, Charlie is the one most likely to disturb her beauty sleep these days. 

 

That doesn’t make Dee any less pissed off.

 

“What the fuck do you want Charlie?” she says, a scowl on her face. She glares at the man like she dares him to make a comment about her tousled hair or the dried saliva on her chin. 

 

Charlie is smarter than he looks because he actually doesn’t mock her about anything. Maybe he’s just desperate. 

 

“Hey Dee, do you mind if I crash here for tonight?” he asks, trying to subtly make his way into the apartment. Dee sees right through him though, and she plants both hands on each side of the doorframe, successfully boxing Charlie out of her place. 

 

“Yes, I would mind Charlie. You see, I just got rid of Thing One and Thing Two,” Charlie frowns, eyebrows scrunched up, probably trying to decipher Dee’s obscure reference. 

 

Dee leans forward, right into Charlie’s space, forcing him to take a step back into the hallway. “I’ve finally been able to enjoy my California King, after a year of sharing with three gross men and now you ask if it would be okay to  _ crash here for tonight _ ?” she uses her fingers as quotation marks for that last part, even when she knows that Charlie has no idea why people do that. Secretly, she just hopes to confuse him even more. 

 

Charlie shrugs. “Yeah Dee, that’s basically it. Frank locked me out again.” 

 

Dee sees that Charlie is trying to stifle a yawn as he rubs his eyes with the palm of his hand. She also notices that he’s wearing his gross pajamas, the ones that no grown man should even be allowed to own. She figures Frank must have kicked him out of bed and Dee manages to feel a little bad for Charlie. 

 

“I mean, if it makes you feel better, I went to Mac’s first but he still won’t open up,” he says, offering her a weak smile. 

 

Dee crosses her arms, the frown back on her face. “Yeah asshole, I feel so much better about being a second choice.” 

 

Charlie winces, rubbing uncomfortably at his neck and shoots Dee a sympathetic smile.

 

She realizes that as much she hates having to share her apartment, she would probably be back to sleep faster if she just let the damn kid in. 

 

“Whatever,” she sighs, turning on her heel. “You can take the couch.”

 

“Oh,” Charlie groans. 

 

Dee thinks she’s this close to finally murdering someone. 

 

“What is it, dickhead?” she tells him, her voice high and too loud for the middle of the night. 

 

“It’s just that your couch is kind of cramped? And I always wake up with kinks in my neck and back, you know?” 

 

Dee pinches the bridge of her nose and takes in a deep breath. “Charlie,” she says, willing herself to stay calm and cool, “not only do you sleep on a couch  _ every single night _ , but you share it with my dad.” 

 

“Yeah, but my couch is like, top quality,” he reasons. He realizes his mistake when he sees Dee’s eyes widening up, getting impossibly large. “Come on Dee, your bed is huge! I promise I’ll stay on my side and I won’t touch you.”

 

“Are you gonna pee in it?” 

 

Charlie chuckles. “Wha- no, come on Dee…” he trails off, the faintest hint of pink tinging his cheeks.

 

Dee simply stares down at him. 

 

“Dee, you know I don’t do that!” 

 

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to bed. You do whatever you want, I don’t care.”

 

From the corner of her eye, she sees him grin and immediately follow her into the bedroom. 

 

She gets a peaceful five minutes of silence once they lie down and turn the lights off. She somehow lets herself believe that she’ll be able to fall right back asleep and forget that there’s barely an arm separating her from Charlie in the bed. 

 

Obviously, that’s all wishful thinking. 

 

“Dee,” Charlie whispers in the dark. Dee groans instead of answering. “Do you think Dennis will come back soon?” 

 

Dee wants to ignore him, she really does, but his voice is so small and Dee kind of feel bad. She is painfully reminded that Dennis’ absence has been weighing down on all of them, even if no one had cared to mention it. Admitting out loud that Dennis left them behind without a second thought made it real. It made it true. If no one talked about it, if no one disturbed the status quo, they could keep pretending it never happened. 

 

Even though Dee refuses to admit it, she thinks they might be a bunch of lunatics. 

 

“Sure buddy,” she says, keeping her voice low. “You really think he can go on so long without Mac? He’s probably fucking miserable right now, stuck in North Dakota.” 

 

Charlie hums. “Do you think he’s just as miserable as Mac?” 

 

There it is, the other thing they don’t talk about. No one has yet to mention how pale Mac’s been looking lately, or how thin he has gotten. They don’t mention the dark circles under his eyes or the way he zones out for most of the days. 

 

Admitting it makes it real and they’d just rather kid themselves. 

 

“Don’t worry Charlie, before you know it, everything will be back to normal,” she reassures him and in that moment, as she watches Charlie’s chest slowly rise up and down, she almost believes it. 

 

“Hey, Dee…” 

 

Dee is too tired to feel annoyed anymore. “Yeah Charlie?” 

 

“Did it hurt when you had to give the tranny your baby?” 

 

Dee huffs out a quiet laugh. “Of course it did, I had to push a human being out of me.”

 

She feels Charlie moves beside her, ever so slightly. He’s shaking his head, she realizes. Unconsciously, she shifts closer. 

 

“I mean when you had to give it away, knowing you’d never see it again. Did it hurt inside?” 

 

Dee doesn’t know where Charlie is heading with this. Dee sometimes thinks that Charlie’s mind is like a tornado, full of thoughts swirling around while he tries to make sense of them. Dee sometimes think Charlie is so much smarter than the rest of them. 

 

“Not really. The baby wasn’t meant for me and I knew that from the start.”  

 

Dee remembers that Carmen told her beforehand that she didn’t want her or the gang to ever try to come in contact with the baby once it was born. Dee had agreed. After all, she was in it for the money. 

 

“The baby inside the waitress,” Charlie mumbles in the pillow, “I don’t think this baby is meant for me.” 

 

“Oh, Charlie,” Dee whispers. She runs her fingers through his hair, her touch light. 

 

Under her hand, Charlie sighs. Dee pretends she doesn’t see him wiggle closer. 

 

“Thanks, Dee,” he says, and he brushes his fingertips against her shoulder. 

 

She’s threading the line between sleep and consciousness when Charlie moves his hand back, and she misses the warmth from his skin against hers. 

 

He’s keeping his promise. 

 

When Dee finally falls asleep, her hand falls to Charlie’s chest, over his beating heart. 


End file.
